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Horgan to talk softwood in Washington

B.C.’s premier has talked of the need to resolve U.S. trade dispute
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B.C. Premier John Horgan, right, meets with US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. (John Horgan/Twitter)

Premier John Horgan is set to meet with some of the Trump administration’s top trade officials Thursday in Washington, D.C, where he intends to press to resolve the softwood lumber trade dispute between Canada and the United States.

Horgan will have meetings with U.S. Trade Secretary Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Dave Reichert, a congressman from Washington State.

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Lighthizer is regarded as Trump’s top official in upcoming North American free trade talks, while Ross is a billionaire banker appointed by Trump and known as a fierce trade opponent.

Reichert is the chairman of a committee looking into the modernization of NAFTA.

Horgan met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa Tuesday where the two leaders discussed the need to resolve the trade dispute.

The premier is also meeting Canada’s U.S. Ambassador David MacNaughton and B.C.’s special softwood trade envoy David Emerson.